Poland vote in huge numbers for pro-EU Opposition after eight years of nationalist rule

Warsaw: The majority of voters in Poland’s general election supported opposition parties that promised to repair the nation’s constitutional order and its relationship with allies, including the European Union and Ukraine, according to projections Monday.

After a bitter and emotional campaign, voters turned out in droves on Sunday to make their voices known. Turnout was projected at almost 73 per cent, the highest level in the country’s 34 years of democracy and surpassing the 63 per cent who turned out in the historic 1989 vote that toppled communism. In the city of Wroclaw, the lines were so long that voting continued through the night until nearly 3 a.m.

A so-called late exit poll by Ipsos suggested that voters had grown tired of the governing nationalist Law and Justice party after eight years of divisive policies that led to frequent street protests, bitter divisions within families and billions of euros (dollars) in funding held up by the EU over rule of law violations.

Poland’s currency, the zloty, reacted by strengthening against the dollar and the euro Monday.

The outcome could also affect ties with neighbouring Ukraine, which Poland has been supporting in the war against Russia’s aggression. The good relations soured in September over Ukraine grain entering and affecting Poland’s market.

The Ipsos poll showed that three centrist opposition parties that campaigned on a promise to reverse the illiberal drift of the government had together secured around 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, or Sejm, a clear majority.